Weekly Wrap-Up – 1/27/08: Fablewood Anthology Advance Review, The Stack and Books I’ve Read Lately

Fablewood Anthology Advance Review

A while back I interviewed William Ward about the anthology he was editing for APE Entertainment, Fablewood. The book comes out in a couple weeks so we will start things off this week with an advance review of the book. There are 13 short stories that comprise Fablewood, all some variety of a fantasy-based story. They range from serious action to whimsical to humorous so there are a great variety of stories throughout.

The quality of the stories is pretty high throughout with only a couple that really fell flat for me. There is a three way tie for my favorite story in the bunch. The first is Die a Hero written by Steve Kinder with art by Kevin Crossley. The story is pretty simple, showing both sides of a random conflict between human and beast, but the real attraction is the gorgeous art which brings to mind Simone Bianchi and is colored with a lush watercolor palette. It’s only six pages long but probably has the most gorgeous art in the book (and Invincible artist Ryan Ottely draws one of the stories). The Ancient Pact by Axel Machain was another one of my other favorites. Where Die a Hero was a gritty little action tale The Ancient Pact goes completely the opposite direction and is a whimsical little tale about a young woman picking a fight in a bar. It may not sound like much but the twist at the end had me laughing out loud and I immediately went back and read it again to catch the little hints dropped in the text. Finishing up the trifecta of my favorites is Under the Midnight Sun written by Chris Studabaker with art by Dusty Neal. There is a great variety of art throughout the book and Under the Midnight Sun probably stands out as the most unique. It looks almost simple at first with small pencil strokes creating the detail but Neal is able to convey a wide range of emotions with those small strokes, especially with his expressive eyes, and reminds me of David Mack’s intricate line work. The story concerns a young shadow’s efforts to see the sun with the elder shadows looking after him knowingly, the young shadow refusing to give up his dream of seeing the sun. It is an amazing little story and I would imagine will probably stand out as the highlight of the book for most.

Most of the rest of the stories throughout are strong as well. Solace leads off the book with a quiet little piece about a boy and his grandfather coming to terms with the death of the boy’s parents. It is a good example of using the fantasy theme of the book to tell a universal story, and it does a good job. The Spirits and the Woods has a nice Jeff Smith vibe to it with a very animated look to the art. Mandala is a wordless story told in an experimental style with the reader asked to follow the panels clockwise starting with the top panel on the first right-facing page, moving down through the right-facing pages, then back up the panels on the left-facing pages. It is an interesting storytelling technique and I will be interested to see it in print since I have only seen it in PDF but the wordless, large paneled storytelling worked well even if the story itself was strange, but in a good way. Ryan Ottely illustrates the short story Blessings about a certain Greek mythological on the battlefield. It looks as good as you would expect from the Invincible artist and it is nice to see him spread his wings a little bit outside the superhero genre. J’Nee Where Are You is a cautionary tale about relationships with fairies and has a soft look reminiscent of Josh Middleton. Unworthy is another little action piece and if I made a top 5 would definitely be a strong contender. It only clocks in at 10 pages but in that small space tells you all you need to know about the main character and is one of the stories I could see spinning off into more continuing stories. Fish is a funny four page tale told entirely in symbols rather than words in the speech and thought balloons. It is a cute little story and the expressive, colorful art works perfectly with the story. Tale of Two Shifters is a story set in the Goblin Chronicles world (which you can find more about here) and is one of the more straight-forward fantasy tales in the book with goblins, trolls and the like. It has a clean animated look to it and actually serves as a prologue of sorts to the Goblin Chronicles mini-series.

There were only two of the stories that didn’t work for me. A Vicious Circle starts out innocently enough with some friends trying to dabble in the magical arts but takes a strange, violent shift in tone, only to go back just as fast to the light-hearted tone at the end. I wasn’t really sure what to make of it. The Cloud-Leapers of Blue Pine Mountain is in a similar boat with a story that doesn’t really make much sense and art that isn’t horrible but can’t help but suffer when compared to the other stories in the book.

Overall, I enjoyed the majority of the stories in Fablewood. There was enough variety in both story and art that each tale was able to stand on its own. While I certainly had my favorites I could easily see someone coming up with three other stories that stood out to them as the cream of the crop. Thanks to William Ward for the advance look, Fablewood should be out in early February so keep your eyes out for it.

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The Stack (in the order I read them, with the best hypothetically saved for last)

Countdown #14, The Authority: Prime #4, Faker #6, Young Avengers Presents: Patriot #1, Wonder Woman #16, Legion of Super-Heroes #38, Astonishing X-Men #24, Johnny Hiro #3, Usagi Yojimbo #109, X-Men #207, The Order #7 - BEST OF THE WEEK!

Last week’s issue of Countdown was a tick down from the previous couple but this week’s issue improves a little again to get back up to mediocre. I had to double check while flipping through it but this issue actually focuses exclusively on the battle on Earth 51 the entire issue, completely forgoing any of the other storylines. I’m pretty sure this is the first time that has happened in the pages of Countdown and it actually reads better for it. We actually get a complete comic story instead of snippets of a bunch of different stories every week. That’s the problem with Countdown in comparison to 52. 52 was telling a (somewhat) complete story every week and until this week Countdown has been jumping all over the place with seemingly no regard for how the thing will actually read. A lot of the issue is spent on Superman Prime who is still an oddity. I thought the Sinestro Corps War was supposed to explain how he suddenly became an adult but I am no more clear on his transformation now than I was when he first showed up that way. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with his progression from boy to man but it only seems to have been a physical change, not a true character maturation. He is still being written as a snivelly kid, which doesn’t really jive with his now grown up image. He is easily manipulated and distracted and you almost get the feeling that he mildly mentally handicapped based on his childish actions and emotions, a thought that is a little unsettling, but not in a good way. The art is split between two artists once again with Pete Woods putting in the better work of the two. Tom Derenick does a decent job but there is tone page with Prime blasting out of the Monitor’s ship where his jaw looks unhinged in an unfortunately Liefieldian moment. Finally, is anyone honestly still reading the stupid backups? Gorilla Grodd? Seriously? I looked at the nice pictures from Art Adams but those things have been a waste of two pages that could have been much better spent on the actual story being told in the comic and not some Flash villain who hasn’t even shown up in the series once.

I was looking forward to Christos Gage and Darick Robertson’s Authority: Prime mini-series but so far it has been a disappointment. The entire first half of the mini was spent on the Authority/Stormwatch fight which was completely unnecessary. This issue sticks to the predictable formula as both teams join forces to fight a common enemy and more fighting ensues. I swear this is an almost identical script as the last issue just with different characters fighting one another. There is plenty of fighting going on but it isn’t even interesting to look at. The entire mini-series has taken place outside of a bunker in the desert so all Robertson’s most arduous task to this point has been how many different ways he can draw dust clouds around the combatants. It is more Gage’s fault than Robertson’s for setting the overlong fight in a completely barren setting. The character of Rose Tattoo had previously made some strides towards becoming a viable and interesting character but that seems like it will be coming undone with little reason to so soon after her recent change of heart. So far this has been a very unfortunate and disappointing series. If this were the start of an ongoing it would likely be dropped but with two issues left and my affection for the characters I will likely stick around for the last two issues, painful though they may be.

I probably would have benefited greatly from re-reading the previous issues of Faker because the impact of this week’s final issue suffered from the delay between the November shipping fifth issue and the conclusion this week. I remember rather enjoying it through the first five issues but this sixth issue didn’t have the emotional impact it would have had it kept to the intended monthly schedule. It isn’t a bad issue but there are a number of plot points that get resolved and where each of those pieces is supposed to fit wasn’t as clear as it will be upon reading the series as a whole. All in all the series had some interesting thoughts about identity and self, even if the characters never made much of an effort to be likable. It ends as one of Mike Carey’s more accessible works from Vertigo and Jock is always a selling point on art, especially on the visually striking covers. Unfortunately Faker will probably fade into oblivion as a decent Vertigo mini-series and not much else. That seems the inevitable fate for just about any mini from Vertigo, but I feel like I got my three bucks out of each issue, even if I would have been better off waiting for the $10 trade. Oh well, no harm, no foul.

Marvel tries to shine some light on its horribly neglected Young Avengers franchise with the first of six issues focusing on each one of the characters and first up is Patriot. I know they have been waiting for Allan Heinberg to continue the regular adventures of the team but it seems like they are missing out on some great storytelling opportunities with part of the team signed up as part of the Initiative and the other part still outlaws. That could create some interesting dynamics but waiting on Heinberg seems to be a losing game with much of the heat generated by their previous series diminished by this point. Still, if you are going to have another writer kick off this solo-centric mini-series Ed Brubaker is a good place to start. It isn’t a completely solo Patriot issue as a couple other team members pop up, which is good sign since each character probably isn’t strong enough to carry a book on their own. The interesting thing about the book was the team dynamic and so the creators would be wise to have plenty of the team pop up, with one of them just getting more face time than the other. Brubaker and artist Paco Medina put forth a decent effort, certainly nowhere near Brubaker’s work on Criminal or Captain America, but more in line with his good-but-not-great work on Uncanny X-Men. Patriot’s issues with supporting his country get a little heavy handed and the scene in the classroom is unfortunate. High school kids fighting over criticism of the country and government? I don’t think so. Brubaker always writes a great Winter Soldier so he is a welcome addition and makes sense as someone Patriot would look to for a little guidance given Cap’s absence. Patriot wasn’t one of the more interesting characters to start in Young Avengers, he seemed a little too much in the angry black youth mold, but he seems to be making steps towards maturity and at this point he feels like a natural and relevant part of the Captain America legacy.

Gail Simone’s excellent first arc on Wonder Woman continues and I really can’t imagine she could have started things out any better. Wonder Woman’s past has always convoluted but Simone does a good job of working in Diana’s history into the framework of the story while keeping it simple enough as to not be distracting. It’s actually a very clever storytelling device on Simone’s part of making her first arc highly accessible without having to delve into a full blown origin story. She’s doing a great job catching everyone up to speed while establishing the tone and sense of purpose for the rest of her run. I’ve tried to get into Wonder Woman a few times over the years from John Byrne’s run, to Phil Jimenez unfortunate time as writer, to Greg Rucka’s highly regarded run which got a little too political for me. Even though it is only three issues in Simone’s run is looking to be the one that finally clicks for me and in the interviews I’ve read it seems like she has the right combination of respect and enthusiasm for the character that should translate to a long and rewarding run. My only complaint with the issue is the shared art chores with some of the climactic battle scenes assigned to Ron Randall whose work can’t help but pale in comparison to the slick work of Terry and Rachel Dodson. Hopefully that just means that the Dodson’s needed a little more time to allow them to complete the entire finale to the story arc next month without the need for another assist. Also of good news in the Wonder Woman universe is Aaron Lopresti taking over as regular artist. The article doesn’t say if he will be rotating with the Dodson’s (I hope) but even if it is just him he seems like an artist who not only has an appropriate style for the book, but probably more importantly can stay on schedule. If there is anything this title needs it’s a good long run by a stable creative team to establish some consistency, something missing from the character for some time now.

I enjoyed Jim Shooter and Francis Manapul’s first issue on Legion of Super-Heroes last month and they fix a couple of things from that issue in this week’s latest installment, but there’s still something that’s not quite letting me get as psyched about their run as I want to be. From a storytelling aspect this issue is certainly an improvement from last week. Shooter pulls back some of his more excessive dialogue and gives Manapul’s art a little more room to breathe. With a more old school writer and new school artist there will inevitably be a feeling out period but it looks like writer and artist are quickly getting on the same page. Manapul’s art has a great energy that fits very well with the characters and he excels with the fight scenes featuring Saturn Girl, Star Boy and Timber Wolf. They did a good job making their situation seem more and more desperate and each of the three characters gets some good scenes to strut their stuff. These action scenes are juxtaposed by scenes back at Legion headquarters with Lighning Lad, Light Lass and Phantom Girl hosting an unwelcome group of potential Legionnaires. I am all for a break in the action every now and then but the tryout reject scenes are overly long, too silly by half and took me out of the story rather than providing the intended breather before jumping back into the action. It seemed strange to have the Legionnaires back at the base getting a display of useless powers while their teammates were fighting for their lives. I guess that was the dynamic that Shooter was going for but it was more distracting than thought provoking for me. Still, these first two issues are a promising start for the new creative team and I think as they get more comfortable with each other and the characters their stories will only improve.

Joss Whedon and John Cassady have done some great work on Astonishing X-Men and last issue’s defining Cyclops moments are some of the best the series has produced but this issue was the first that felt noticeably padded to me. After the thrilling end to last issue I was ready for an action packed race to the finish. Instead Whedon down shifts and we get an issue with more talking than action. Sure, it’s his usual sharp dialogue, especially on Wolverine, but if they were going to finish their run on an extra sized issue why not just double size this issue and put out a tight, concise finale instead of slowing things back down again. I probably shouldn’t complain about more Whedon/Cassady goodness, and maybe there will be tons of stuff in the Giant Size conclusion that just wouldn’t have fit in a single over sized issue, but after last issue this one ended up being a bit of a disappointment. A well written, amazingly drawn disappointment, but a disappointment nonetheless.

The last issue of Johnny Hiro was full of crazy action, hilarious dialogue and was one of the most fun comics I read all of last year. Creator Fred Chao isn’t happy doing the same old, same old and goes about things a little differently in this issue but ends up with the same result: A great indie comic full of humor, over the top ideas and genuine emotion. From the cover with a guy in a shirt and tie sitting at his desk with a partial samurai getup on you know Chao has something interesting up his sleeve. That comes in the form of 47 ronin businessmen who are out to avenge their boss whose internet search engine company was put out of business by an up and coming rival. How our hero Johnny ends up protecting that rival from the ronin businessmen is part of the series charm where the mundane and the surreal collide in what should be a complete mess but Chao pulls it all together expertly and gets in some great lines and genuine laughs in the process. Mixed in this time though are subtle and all too realistic emotions from the characters like Johnny’s self doubt about why his girlfriend is still with him despite his monetary problems and the decision he makes at the end of the issue which will be familiar to anyone who has ever been on their own and came upon hard times. It is amazing how Chao deftly mixes the over the top elements with the down to earth ones. Maybe it should be classified as slice of life insanity. Another great effort from Chao and I can’t wait for more, even though he mentions in the back how he is taking a break to focus on his other work, as the comic is something he actually only has time to work on during his lunch break. One of the other highlights of the book for me was also in the back where Chao talks about his gratitude for the reviews and write-ups online and lo and behold my name and the name of my blog are listed. Sure, it’s in a list with about three dozen others but just knowing that Chao came across my blog and took the time to acknowledge it was pretty cool. If you happen to read this Fred, thanks for the nod, keep up the great work! For everyone else I would strongly encourage you use this hiatus as an opportunity to get your hands on the first three issues of Johnny Hiro and get caught up on this wonderfully original and entertaining series.

This week’s issue of Usagi Yojimbo concludes the Sparrows storyarc in fine fashion. It has been a while since Stan Sakai did an arc this long and it stands out as one of the stronger stories he has told recently. One of the things I talked about in my rant last week was how Usagi is an example of how used properly continuity can be a positive thing for a character and how changes actually matter. This arc is a perfect illustration of that. Usagi is up against a horde of bounty hunters with only a few allies at his side to protect Inazuma. The relationships that Usagi has established over the years with his allies as well as Inazuma, who previously saved his life, all inform their actions and character decisions throughout the story. Had this story taken place at any different time the outcome would have been different because the characters would have all been at different places in their lives, especially with regards to their relationships between one another. I don’t think that is something that could be said about the majority of the superhero comics coming out from the big two, hence Usagi’s greater emotional investment and reward for a dedicated reader. Anyway, I don’t want to get into another rant so I’ll just say that this was another great issue from Sakai and a fitting end to the story arc. His usual exemplary storytelling is on display and there are some particularly great scenes from Isamu with one wordless three panel scene that says all you need to know without any extraneous narration to clutter things up as I would expect to see from lesser writers. I recently filled all of the holes in my Usagi collection so it is one I plan on going back through to get caught up on and with as consistent as Sakai has been over the years I can only imagine that getting a complete view of the work as a whole will make it even that much more rewarding.

Messiah Complex finished up with this week’s issue of X-Men and it is hard to review the issue on its own merits when it is the culmination of three months worth of X-books. It wasn’t an earth-shattering conclusion, Xavier getting shot is a big yawner of a climax that even the characters don’t seem to surprised about, but all in all I thought the issue wrapped up the crossover in decent enough fashion. Anyone looking for a self contained story need look elsewhere because Messiah Complex didn’t wrap anything up in a nice little bow but it did tell an action packed, fast paced, old school X-Men story which has been missing for a while now. Cyclops has been getting a lot of love lately in this crossover, as well and Astonishing X-Men, and has come out the other side a stronger character. I thought that the figurative passing of the torch in the form of the baby would have sufficed but apparently booting out Xavier out of the picture was deemed necessary to fully establish Cyclops as the new #1 man in charge. The intended result of these kinds of things is to always get more people reading the books but going into the crossover the only X-book that tied in I was reading was X-Factor and of the main four it will probably stay that way. New X-Men is being replaced by X-Force and Young X-Men but neither of those has any appeal to me. I will definitely be picking up Cable’s solo series but that is in effect replacing the Cable & Deadpool series, so that’s a wash. X-Men is becoming X-Men: Legacy and focusing on Xavier and Magneto which holds no interest for me and Uncanny seems like it will be spinning its wheels until the big #500 anniversary so those will probably stay on the shelf as well unless they come out during a slow week. X-Factor will actually deal with implications from this story with Layla stuck in the future and Wolfsbane leaving so those will be interesting to follow up on but that title has been excellent since it launched and I had no intention of leaving it before Messiah Complex so it isn’t going anywhere. All in all I got my money’s worth out of the story but it hasn’t inspired any great confidence that the X-franchise is headed in any bold new directions, just the same old direction with a few interesting tangents.

Finally we have The Order and before I address this issue I must say how upset I am at news of its cancellation. For my money it is the second best title Marvel published, behind Immortal Iron Fist, and probably the best team book on the stands. It was one of the few truly great things to come out of Civil War, reminiscent of Runaways in creating exciting new characters within the framework of the Marvel Universe. And now it is getting cancelled with #10. It wasn’t selling gangbusters but the latest sales charts still have it within the Top 100. Considering the almost unanimous praise it has been getting from critics you would think they could have at least given it a marketing push instead of pulling the plug after ten short months. Very disappointing on Marvel’s part. (As a side note, I’m not normally a podcast guy but the interview with Fraction at the link above is very good though and he drops an Arrested Development reference which makes me love the man just that much more). Anyway, that depressing news aside Fraction and Barry Kitson turn out another spectacular issue starring Namor, of all people. It wasn’t until I sat down to really think about the issue that I realized that the entire issue was basically one big conversation between Anthem and Namor but it is to the creator’s credit that it felt like so much more. I’ve never been much of a Namor fan but I can see the appeal of him as Marvel’s Black Adam and Fraction writes him as an appropriately smug and condescending prick. Put him up against everyman Henry Hellrung and you have an interesting dynamic with Anthem using nothing more than his wits to outmaneuver the Atlantean Prince. Even with a few of the other characters sprinkled throughout this is really Anthem’s time to shine and I can only pray and hope there are plans for him, as well as the rest of these characters, once the series ends and that they are in hands as capable as Fractions. I was a little curious to see what was going on with the Supernaut/Aralune sub plot but I imagine that will get an issue to itself here shortly. Kitson’s art is great as well although if I am guessing correctly the pages he inked himself are much more favorable to those inked by Jon Sibal, but not in too distracting a manner. So, only three issues to go and I am going to be sure to savor every one. I don’t know if there are any Save The Order campaigns going on but if there are hopefully I will hear about them so I can do my part to help save a great new series that deserves more than a paltry ten issues to make its mark on the Marvel U.

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Books I’ve Read Lately

It has been a little while since I talked about the books I have read so I thought I’d run through the latest few here. While looking for The Road at Borders I found it on the Buy One Get One ½ Off table so of course I had to find something else on there to get half off. I saw one called World War Z and at first glance it looked a little silly (a book about zombies?) but there was some pretty high praise from credible sources on the back and zombies are my favorite horror sub-genre so I thought I’d give it a shot. The premise is that the Zombie War, or World War Z, ended about 10 years prior to the future setting of the book and each chapter is an oral recounting of a survivor’s experience. They range from civilians to military experts to politicians and writer Max Brooks does a great job giving each one an individual voice. At first I thought there would be little tension since when you start the book you know that we humans won, but Brooks still wrings plenty of tension out of the accounts of fighting and escaping zombies as well as the conflicts between the living and the living, not just the living dead. Some of the most fascinating parts of the book are where Brooks really puts some thought into how the plague would spread (black market organs, among others), how each country would react (the book travels the globe for its “interviews”) and what kind of military response it would take to counteract the zombie threat (highly organized and disciplined, easier said than done). I don’t know how much “research” one can put into a book about zombies but Brooks covers just about every base you could imagine and ones you never even thought of like the beaches being major infestation zones due to zombies traveling under water. If you are a fan of zombie movies and Walking Dead World War Z is well worth your time and you’ll be giving the real life implications of a zombie infestation more thought than you ever thought possible.

Next up is House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III. I happened to see this at a used book store and had heard good things about the movie starting Jennifer Connolly and Ben Kingsley. The basic premise is that the city wrongly forecloses on Connolly’s character’s house and the Kingsley character buys it at auction with plans of turning it around quickly for a profit. There is more to it than that sentence indicates but that is the basic plot. A cop tries to help the woman get her house back and gets wrapped in it but on the whole I was underwhelmed by the book. There is no question that Dubus is a talented writer, the descriptions are vivid and the characters felt like living, breathing people but their were so many circumstantial parts of the plot that I couldn’t help but thinking it was a little far fetched. For modern realistic fiction believability is a pretty important part of the equation and it just didn’t sit quite right with me for this book. I also had a hard time sympathizing with the woman who lost her house because it was her own damn fault for not opening the mail from the city threatening action. They may have been in the wrong but it was well within her power to avoid the whole situation. So, House of Sand and Fog was a good, not great book and worth checking out if you are looking for a little distraction but nothing life changing.

Finally we have Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk which I received for Christmas. You would think with Fight Club as one of my favorite movies of all time that I would have read one of Palahniuk’s books by now but Survivor is the first; and might be the last for a while if Survivor is any indication of the rest of his body of work. Tender Branson is the lone survivor of a religious cult that commits mass suicide and with the help of a female friend who can see the future makes his way up to religious celebrity. It is obvious from page one that Survivor is a satire but in my experience the most effective satire is of the subtle variety and Survivor is far from subtle. Interspersed with the character’s encyclopedic knowledge about how to properly clean, cook and act in any situation are developments so completely over the top it goes right past satire and borders on farce. Palahniuk is an experience writer so I’m sure every over the top development was there to increase the absurdity to a progressively higher level but it reached a point where even the extreme reaches of believability were passed right by. I don’t know if the rest of Palahniuk’s books are similar to Survivor but it hasn’t inspired me to find out any time soon. Skip it and spend your time more wisely on something else.

I recently started The Echo Maker by Richard Powers but am only about 50 pages into it so maybe it will lead off the next round of books in a month or so. I don’t have any other posts planned for this week but I should have an eBay auction of the first 9 issues of Nova arriving so if those strike me I might have to write up a little something. Until then, that’s all for me.